Babylon , Iraq -LRB- CNN -RRB- ISIS has smashed priceless ancient statues in Mosul , bulldozed the ruins of Nineveh and Hatra , and dynamited centuries-old churches , mosques and shrines .

In a battle between Iraqi forces and ISIS over control of Tikrit recently , the tomb of Saddam Hussein was squashed to rubble , though it 's not clear which side did it .

Luckily , the ancient city of Babylon is outside the extremists ' grasp , south of Baghdad . For nearly 5,000 years it has stood as a symbol of the glory of ancient Mesopotamian civilization .

Saddam Hussein renovated the ruins in the 1980s , leaving his own crude personal stamp on the bricks there . They bear his name and describe him as the son of Nebuchadnezzar , who had the reputation of being ancient Babylon 's greatest king .

One of Hussein 's former palaces still peers down over the city .

But it continues to be source of great pride for Iraqis who see themselves as the heirs of the world 's oldest civilization .

And many Iraqis know better than to buy the claims of their deposed despot . `` This was n't Saddam 's , '' said Adnan Abu Fatima . `` It belonged to our grandfathers , the Babylonians . ''

Abu Fatima strolled through the ruins with his family . Saddam 's vain brick inscriptions may annoy him , but ISIS ' destruction appalls him .

`` The Mosul museum was destroyed . Why ? '' he wants to know from ISIS . `` That is the heritage of your grandfathers . Why did you do that ? ''

The defacers ' reasoning ? The artifacts , some of the oldest in ancient civilization , are from the `` age of ignorance , '' ISIS says , before the advent of Islam .

Antiquity is an integral part of Iraq 's national identity . History is measured there not in centuries but in millennia , and Iraqi 's take such vandalism to heart .

They 've had to watch since the U.S. invasion in 2003 how artifacts have been stolen . Baghdad 's museum was plundered , during a lapse in U.S. security , and the priceless artifacts were smuggled around the world .

The U.S. State Department has announced it will return more than 60 items on Monday , which had been sneaked into the United States .

Safa ad-Din Hassan and other parents took Iraqi scouts on a camping trip near Babylon to teach them about their history and make ancient artwork with them .

Hassan fled Mosul when ISIS overran it last year then later ransacked the museum . `` When I saw what happened , I was determined to come her to preserve our antiquities from ISIS , '' he said .

Iraq will defend its heritage against ISIS , said Mohamed Hattab from Iraq 's Antiquities Department . `` Babylon is our soul . ''

It 's a soul under assault by latter day barbarians , who have destroyed much of it in the North , which has been out of the defensive reach of Iraqi soldiers .

The military has started a drive to retake Saddam Hussein 's hometown of Tikrit from the extremists . After the rage of a battle subsided , they moved in to the outskirt town of Awja to find the former dictator 's tomb flattened .

Video of soldiers standing on top of it was posted to YouTube . They celebrated the posthumous slap against their former tormentor . One man fired shots into the rubble toward Hussein 's grave site .

It was a piece of history they were glad to part with .

CNN 's Ben Wedeman reported and wrote from Babylon , and Ben Brumfield reported and wrote from Atlanta . CNN 's Yousuf Basil contributed to this report .

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ISIS has ransacked museums , bulldozed ancient cities , destroying human history

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But the ancient city of Babylon is out of their reach in Iraq 's Shiite region